Appointment of under-secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples

Appointment of apostolic nuncio in Greece

The Holy Father has appointed as apostolic nuncio in Greece H.E. Msgr. Savio Hon Tai-Fai, titular archbishop of Sila, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

Appointment of under-secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples

The Holy Father has appointed as under-secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples Rev. Fr. Ryszard Szmydki, O.M.I., currently secretary general of the Pontifical Missionary Societies.

Fr. Ryszard Szmydki, O.M.I.

The Rev. Fr. Ryszard Szmydki, O.M.I. was born on 26 April 1951 in Tarebiski, Poland; in 1970 he entered the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, in which he gave his perpetual vow on 21 January 1977.

He was ordained a priest on 2 July 1978; he subsequently obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Urbanian University and a doctorate from the Catholic University of Lublin, where he was also a lecturer for several years.

He served as a missionary in Cameroon for two years.

In 2005, after returning to Poland, he was appointed as provincial vicar for missions. In 2010 he was elected as provincial superior of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Poland and re-elected in 2013.

On 3 April 2014 he was appointed as secretary general of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

Aside from his native Polish, he also knows Italian, French and English.